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Sweet Blackberry Social Wine

First time

In season August to October · makes 4.5 L · target OG 1.085

A sweeter companion to the dry hedgerow blackberry; the stabilise-then-sweeten rule for the many who prefer a sweet wine.

Before you start. Do not back-sweeten without stabilising first — an unstable sweet wine can referment and burst bottles.

You will need

  • Blackberries1.6 kg
  • Sugar (for the ferment)1.0 kg
  • Pectic enzymeper dose
  • Potassium sorbate + campdenper dose, at sweetening
  • Sugar syrup (to sweeten)to taste
  • Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
  • Waterto 4.5 L

Picking it at the right moment

  • Blackberry

    Ripe when deep matt black (not shiny), plump, and they come away with only the gentlest tug — a berry that resists is not ready.

Method

  1. 1

    Sanitise. Crush the blackberries under 2.5 L cooled boiled water; add pectic enzyme when cool.

  2. 2

    Add the sugar dissolved warm; top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.085); pitch the yeast and nutrient; ferment on the pulp two days, then strain and ferment dry.

  3. 3

    This is the safe sweet-finish lesson on the easiest hedgerow fruit: ferment it FULLY dry and clear first.

  4. 4

    Then stabilise — stir in potassium sorbate and a campden tablet together, wait a day — and only THEN sweeten to taste with sugar syrup.

  5. 5

    Never sweeten a wine that still has live yeast and no sorbate: it can referment in the bottle and burst.

  6. 6

    A crowd-pleasing, fruit-forward sweet red for sharing.

What this one teaches you

  • · Back sweetening and sorbate

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An original MakeWine recipe.